Autograph letter signed by WSPU member Mary Gawthorpe dated 1907
GAWTHORPE, Mary E. (1881–1973). Autograph Letter Signed to Mrs Lamb. Votes for Women. The National Women’s Social and Political Union, 4 Clements Inn, Strand, W.C., 8 December 1907.
Single sheet on official WSPU printed notepaper, written in ink on the recto; original folds. Light creasing from folding; minor adhesive remnants and surface disturbance to verso from former mounting; Very good.
An early militant-phase recruitment letter from Mary Gawthorpe, one of the principal northern organisers of the Women’s Social and Political Union, addressed to a prospective supporter in Bramley, Leeds. Gawthorpe encloses WSPU literature, urging her correspondent to read the leaflet “Leading Facts” and to recognise that, despite the patient work of previous generations, women have got no further. The statement reflects the WSPU’s repudiation of constitutional methods in favour of direct action.
She invites her correspondent to attend a meeting at the Clarion Club Rooms, St Ann’s Street, Leeds, noting that she is engaged in “a really hard fight,” and that “other loyal brothers” will be present. A contemporary document of WSPU organisational practice.